Cooler for refrigerators



Feb 25; 19% R, H RW TZ 2,031,653

COOLER FOR REFRIGERATORS Filed Aug. 4, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet ,1

INVENTOR Ra barf //0rn/ fz/ his ATTOR EY 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 R. HORWITZcoomam FOR REFRIGERATORS Filed Aug. 4, 1932 Feb. 25, 1936.

.illiiili1-55%--) w. Y 0O 01M, m 1 V 3 w Z. w A Z! 0/ [a \.0 Z 0 6 3 I Il I III QJ 4 3. m n HUHHH AIHH l l A. 4 lI/I. 3 2 z z a 2 Patented Feb.25, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE COOLER FOR REFRIGERATORS RobertHorwitz, New York, N. Y.

Application August 4, 1932, Serial No. 627,529

6 Claims. (01. 62-441) This invention relates to containers for coolingarticles, particularly liquids, in a usual household refrigeratingdevice, and has for its main object to provide a cooling container ofthe type men- 5 tioned, which will be efiicient in use.

My invention particularly aims to provide a device, as characterizedhereinbefore, which may be used in mechanical refrigerating householddevices and which will occupy the space under- 10 neath the usualrefrigerating unit in such device, which space normally is hard to makeuse of for cooling the usual articles placed into such refrigerators, orwhich space normally is entirely wasted or occupied by a drip pan, ortray.

15 Another object of this invention is to form said cooling container insuch a manner that the same may replace a drip pan and be used forcollecting the drippings from the refrigerating unit.

20 Still other objects of this invention are to provide a device, ascharacterized hereinbefore, which will be simple in construction,inexpensive, attractive in appearance, handy in use, and from which itwill be convenient and easy to withdraw 25 the cooled liquid, and therefilling of which container will be similarly easy and convenient.

.Still further objects of this invention will be apparent as thespecification of the same proceeds.

3 In order that its construction and operation may be readilycomprehended, I will now proceed with a full, clear and specificdescription of the invention, having reference to the accompanyingdrawings, which show an approved, embodiment 3 thereof, and in which:

Fig. 2 is a plan view of one embodiment of my device, while Figs. 3 and4 are side and front elevations, respectively, of said embodiment.

Fig. 5 is a front elevation of a cap used with this embodiment of mydevice carrying the liquid discharging and refilling devices, while-Fig. 6 is a cross sectional view of the cap shown in Fig. 5, thesection being taken approximately on the line 66 of Fig. 5.

' Figs. 7 and 8 are plan View and front elevation,

respectively, of a modification of my device.

Figs. 9 and 10 show further modifications. Referring to the drawings bycharacters of reference, the numeral Iil indicates a refrigerator ingeneral having the usual heat insulated walls,

a heat insulated door I l, shown in the figure in open position, theinside space [2 thereof being kept at a low temperature when therefrigerator unit I3 is in operation. Said refrigerator unit may be anyof any of the standard makes, and as usual, shelves M are also employedwithin the refrigerator on which may be placed the various articles I5,which it is desired to keep or preserve at the low temperature withinthe refrigerator.

A narrow space I 6 is usually provided underneath 10 the mechanicalrefrigerator unit l3, in this case it being the space between saidmechanical unit and the first shelving thereunder, which space is veryawkward and unhandy to be used for placing therein articles or objectsto be cooled. Normally, it either goes to waste or a drip'pan is putinto the same underneath the refrigerating unit I 3 to receive thedripping thereof, which are particularly pronounced and of largerquantity when the device is being entirely defrosted, but some suchdrippings may continually happen during the regular operation of therefrigerator.

The preferred form of my device is simply a flat shaped bottle I! whichis made so that it should fit into the average such space is underneaththe mechanical unit in a refrigerator and practically fill said space,but should not project beyond the same in a longitudinal directiontowards the'door of the refrigerator beyond the inner surface of saiddoor when closed, while it should also substantially remain within theconfines of the space underneath the refrigerator unit in a transversedirection. A suitable distance will, however, be left between its topsur' face and the bottom surface of the mechanical refrigerator unit 13.

The bottle I! may be made of any suitable material, but I prefer to makeit of glass so that the contents thereof may be observed therethrough,and I provide the same with a narrower, 40 but still comfortably wideneck I8 having a few screw threads I 9 formed thereon for the purpose ofreceiving a similarly screw threaded sealing cap 20. The bottom wall 2!of the bottle I1 is substantially flat, so that the same may restthereon when placed on the shelf l4 underneath .the refrigerator unitl3, though it may curve somewhat, and the side walls 22 may be rounded,as shown in the drawings, or they may be substantially plain verticalwalls, while the top wall 23 of my bottle will be made with a pronounceddepression 24, preferably inclining towards the center thereof in bothlongitudinal and transversal directions, but leaving an intact raisedmarginal ledge 25 in the material of the top wall around said depression24.

The sealing cap 20 may be made of two sheet metal caps 26 and 27, theouter one 26 being of plain but finished appearance, while the inner one2'! alone will have the screw threads 28 to engage the treads IS on thebottle neck, the two caps 26 and 2'! being united by any suitablemethod, known in the art, as indicated at 29. A sealing'rubber disc orwasher 35 may be placed within the cap 23 and two registering sets ofapertures 3! and 32 may be provided in the bottom walls of the two caps26 and 21 and in the washer 3U.

When the cooler bottle is resting on this bottom wall 2 I the smallerset of apertures-or holes 3I will be higher than the set of holes orapertures 32, which latter ones are placed low and are of largerdiameter than the set of holes 3|. A rectangular tube piece 33 issecured in the upper holes or apertures 3! having a flaring and wideningvertical branch 34 opening to the outside of the cap and a horizontalcylindrical branch 35 entering the inside of the cap and the bottleneck, the two having rectangularly placed communicating bores 34 and 35.The horizontal branch 35 has screw threads 36 provided thereon and asecuring nut 31 may be threaded on the inner end thereof so as to firmlysecure the angular tube piece 33 on the bottom wall of the cap 20through the cooperation of shoulder 38 on said angular tube 33.

A discharge valve device 39 is secured in a similar manner into thelarger hole or aperture 32 having a horizontal bore 40 whereby itconstantly communicates with the inside of the bottle, while said valvemay have a rotating hollow cone M, as usual, communicating with saidpassage or bore 40 through the hole 42 in its wall, when it is in acertain position, in this case when the operating handle 43 of saidrotating cone is in the position shown in Figs. 5 and 6, while its hole42 will be placed out of register with the passage 40 in the normalposition thereof and the position of its operating handle 43 in such acase is indicated in Figs. 2 to 4.

In use, my cooling bottle I! will be placed in the space I6, asdescribed hereinbefore and indicated in Fig. 1, and the cooled liquidcontents thereof may at any time be tapped by opening the door I I ofthe refrigerator and turning the handle 43 of the discharge value 39 ina forward opening direction, as indicated in Figs. 5 and 6. The emptybottle or container may be refilled through the funnel 34 which at thesame time will allow the air to escape from the space in the bottle andpermit its filling with wateror other liquid. Funnel 34 and itsreceiving apertures in' the closing cap of the bottle will be placed ashigh as possible, but still in such a manner that the upper edge of saidfunnel should not substantially project above the top wall of thebottle. For obvious reasons, and in the same way, the discharge valve 39and its receiving aperture 32 in the cap 20 will be placed as low ascircumstances permit.

The drippings from the refrigerator unit I3 will be received by andcollected in the depression 24 in. the top of the bottle and mayconveniently be removed therefrom by any appropriate method.

My cooling bottle or container I'I, may, of course, also be made withoutthe depression 24 in its top wall, in which case it will not be used asa drip pan, but simply as a cooling container and may be placed into anyappropriate part of the refrigerator and used to store or rest otherarticles thereon.

Another change in the construction of my device is illustrated in adiagrammatical manner in Fig. 9 and may consist in connecting thecontainer I! by pipe line 60 with the usual running water system of thehome in which the refrigerator is employed, placing a valve GI betweenthe same and the running water system and intermittently opening thecontainer to said running water system and permitting it to fill up.

It is also obvious that my container, shaped and constructed asdescribed hereinbefore and adapted to be placed underneath saidrefrigerator unit I3, may be used to cool any liquid besides water, andit may also be constructed with a larger front discharge opening in sucha manner that it may receive other articles desired to be kept in aseparate container in the refrigerator, said container according to thisinvention, using a practically waste space in the inside of saidrefrigerator.

My invention, finally, may naturally be used in common ice-boxes withouta mechanical refrigerating unit.

In Figs. '7 and 8, I illustrate a modified form of my invention in whicha cooling bottle is shown with a cap 5|, refilling and air dischargeopening 52 and top valve 53 generally constructed as describedhereinbefore, but the top wall 54 of the bottle is, in thismodification, made outwardly declining or convex shaped instead ofdepressed towards the center, or concave, as is shown in the preferredmodification. The drip water in this case, of course, will run towardsthe outer edges of the bottle and a pan like extension 55' may be addedon such sides of the bottle towards which the drip water will run, toreceive the same.

In practice, I have found that the form of my invention, illustrated inthe drawings and referred to in the above description, as the preferredembodiment, is the most efficient and practical; yet realizing that theconditions concurrent with the adoption of. my device will necessarilyvary, I desire to emphasize the fact that various changes in details ofconstruction, proportion and arrangement of parts may be resorted to,when required, without sacrificing any of the advantages of myinvention, as set forth and defined in the appended claims.

One such change is illustrated in Fig. 10 and consists in making thefunnel 34 of the angular filling tube 33 of a separate piece rotatablein the body 33 and sealed thereagainst, as shown, and in a similarmanner to cone 4| of valve 39, an opening 34" may be provided in thewall of the funnel 34 which at a certain position thereof, maycommunicate with passage 35', while at other positions thereof will besealed from said passage. This will make it possible to seal thecontainer from the outside when no water is drawn therefrom and soprevent the undesirable odors in a refrigerator from reaching the cooledwater. Such a construction may even make it possible to omit the valve39 from my bottle and control the discharge of the water therefromthrough a permanently open outlet by the manipulation of the rotatablefunnel 34.

It is also understood that the refilling or so called breather device 33may be placed at any other suitable part of the device besides the frontthereof where it is shown in the present em bodiment.

What I claim as new is:

1. A cooling container for refrigerators, comprising a hollow bodyhaving one substantially flat side adapted to rest on a support in saidrefrigerator; the opposite top side of said container being outwardlyconvex, and pan like extensions in cooperation with said hollow bodyinto which said convex top may shed the liquid dripping thereon.

2. In a substantially flat bottomed water cooling bottle adapted to reston said bottom underneath the refrigerating unit proper in a mechanicalrefrigerator, and comprising an entirely separate independent elementclosed in itself, a curved top for said bottle to guide the drippingsfrom said unit, and upwardly open means co-operating with said curvedtop and located on and associated with the exposed outside surface ofthe bottle to collect and store said drippings.

3. In a water cooling bottle, as set forth in claim 2, said top of thebottle being convex in;

shape, andsaid means to store said drippings being in the form ofchannels along the outer edge of the bottle.

4. In a water cooling bottle, as set forth in claim 2, said means tostore said drippings being in the form of depressions in the top surfaceof. the bottle.

5. In a water cooling bottle, as set forth in claim 2, said top beingconvexly curved and said means to collect and store the drippings beingin the form of extensions to the side surfaces of the bottle.

6. In a water cooling bottle adapted to be placed underneath therefrigerating unit proper in a mechanical refrigerator, a convex top forsaid bottle adapted to shed the drippings from said refrigerating unit,and means on said bottle cooperating with said convex top to collect andstore said drippings.

ROBERT HORWITZ.

